We apologize for the delay in getting this newsletter out. With the current disaster playing out in Afghanistan, we vow to redouble our efforts to make policy-makers listen to those with real experience in the Middle East. God bless our troops and God bless our great country!
April
We began the month by sounding the alarm on the China-Iran deal – 25-year, $400 billion agreement promising cooperation between the two countries on trade, communications, and banking as well as military integration, intelligence cooperation and nuclear power development. We called for full transparency on this deal and for vigorous public debate, but neither the Biden administration nor the press seem particularly interested in digging into it.
We co-authored a letter with Mill Creek Councilman Vincent Cavaleri to Congresswoman Susan DelBene urging her not to lend support to the Biden Administration’s plan to re-engage with Iran on the JCPOA (the Iran nuclear deal).
Then we called for the mandate of the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to be renewed following violent attacks by Arab Janjaweed militias on the black African Masalit tribe in the Darfur region of Sudan.
AMCD had a very productive meeting with Cathy McMorris Rogers who agrees with AMCD broadly on the issues and is one of our most powerful allies in Congress.
We praised the Biden administration for the only thing it has gotten right in the Middle East – designating the Turkish Armenian massacres in 1915 as a genocide. It’s been downhill ever since.
AMCD advisor Ken Timmerman discussed reports that John Kerry revealed U.S. national security secrets to Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif on Newsmax. Video here.
May
AMCD regional director Manda Zand Ervin penned an op-ed criticizing the UN Commission on the Status of Women for appointing the Islamic Republic of Iran to its board.
AMCD joined some lawmakers demanding that a senior adviser to the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Ariane Tabatabai, be stripped of her security clearance due to her close family ties to the Islamic Republic.
AMCD had mutually respectful meeting with Bowen Peard, a senior side to Congressman Derek Kilmer. We pled with him to make it clear to the Congressman that re-entering the Iran deal would be a major miscalculation.
AMCD advisor Walid Phares joined Ellie Cohanim to discuss the difference between Trump’s Mideast policy and the disaster that has been the Biden Mideast policy with Sabastian Gorka. Video here.
Then we met with J.Z. Golden, senior aide to Congressman Rick Larsen. Our members insisted that reviving the JCPOA is a bad idea. Golden stood firm and expressed the Congressman’s support of it.
We ended May on a positive note, meeting with Avi Zimmerman and Ashraf Jaberi of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry. These men showed us that peace between Jews and Arabs is achievable by focusing on mutually beneficial commerce between them.
June
AMCD members met with Josh Mandel who is running for Senate from the state of Ohio. Senator Rob Portman is retiring so the seat will be open in 2022. Mr. Mandel expects to run against Tim Ryan (D) who is currently a Congressman. Mandel is a veteran of the Iraq war and is very aware of the dangers emanating from the Middle East. We are very encouraged that we have so many veterans running for Congress. Our future leaders who have experience in the Middle East will be those who help guide the country through an uncertain future (thanks to President Biden).
AMCD met with Tiffany and Scott Smiley on June 8. Tiffany is running US Senate from the state of Washington hoping to take on Democrat Patty Murray, who has ignored our requests to meet with her staff. Tiffany fought the bureaucracy to help her husband, Scott, after he was blinded by a suicide bomber in Mosul. He is the only blind officer currently serving in the military. Their story is inspiring and we hope to greet Tiffany as “Senator Smiley” after 2022!
On June 17, we met with Joshua Freed, Republican Party Chair for King County, Washington. Mr. Freed hopes to appoint many more Precinct Committee Officers to help ensure election integrity at the precinct level. After discussing many issues of concern on the local level and hearing concrete proposals from Mr. Freed, we could not understand how the looney Jay Inslee beat him in the Governor’s race. Joshua Freed needs to run again!